A Book of Dartmoor: Second EditionBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
A Book of Dartmoor: Second Edition
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Dartmoor (England)
The pipe-clay, lampblack, yellow ochre, and woad of the primeval
mourners must be brought into range with a whole series of other
mourning usages, and then the result is something of an "eye-opener."
It reveals a condition of mind and an aspect of death that cause not a
little surprise and amusement. It is one of the most astonishing, and,
perhaps, shocking traits of barbarous life, that death revolutionises
completely the feelings of the survivors towards their deceased
husbands, wives, parents, and other relatives.
A married couple may have been sincerely attached to each other so long
as the vital spark was twinkling, but the moment it is extinguished the
dead partner becomes, not a sadly sweet reminiscence, but an object of
the liveliest terror to the survivor. He or she does everything that
ingenuity can suggest to get himself or herself out of all association
in body and spirit with the late lamented. Death is held to be
thoroughly demoralising to the deceased. However exemplary a person he
or she may have been in life, after death the ghost is little less than
a plaguing, spiteful spirit.
There is in the savage no tender clinging to the remembrance of the
loved one; he is transformed into a terrible bugbear, who must be
evaded and avoided by every contrivance conceivable. This is due,
doubtless, mainly to the inability of the uncultivated mind to
discriminate between what is seen waking from what presents itself in
phantasy to the dreaming head. After a funeral it is natural enough
for the mourners to dream of the dead, and they at once conclude that
they have been visited by his _revenant_. After a funeral feast--a
great gorging of pork or beef--it is very natural that the sense of
oppression and pain felt should be associated with the dear departed,
and should translate itself into the idea that he has come from his
grave to sit on the chests of those who have bewailed him.
Moreover, the savage associates the idea of desolation, death,
discomfort, with the condition of the soul after death, and believes
that the ghosts do all they can to return to their former haunts and
associates for the sake of the warmth and food, the shelter of the
huts, and the entertainment of the society of their fellows. But the
living men and women are not at all eager to receive the ghosts into
the family circle, and they accordingly adopt all kinds of "dodges,"
expedients to prevent the departed from making these irksome and
undesired visits.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account